C—l.\.

FuTCRE OI'KHATIo.NS, I!M)8-1<JU9. The principal classes and extent of work actually in the lianda of the etafi sturveyora and in progreu at the end of the year is summarised aa follows, full details of which are to be found in the accompanying reports of the Chief Surveyors : Minor triangulation, 281 square miles; settlement, <;i7,!K;:i acres; Native J>and Court surveys, 98,189 acres; Maori Land Board, 102,028 acres; Native Commission, 24,500 acres. The last four items, which can be classed as subdivisional surreys, aggregate 842,660 acres. This large area, however, is by no means all new work, for tin- survey of 115,000 acres is completed, but mapping is yet to be done; and it is contemplated that during the next four months a furttu r 373,000 acres will be finished, and a number of surveyor* thus be available for new work. In addition, the stall lias 303 miles of road survey in hand, besides a number of miscellaneous matters. Further triangulation will, of a necessity, have to be undertaken where sectional surveys will be carried on, and, as regards settlement work, one of the in til important matters to be attended to, not included in the foregoing, will be the survey of 105 outstanding applications for " unsurveyed land " —in all, about 65,000 acres not yet allotted to any surveyors, which will probably be supplemented by applications of this character for*another 30,000 or 40,000 acres during the rear. The surveyors a< the present time directly employed by the Department are distributed in the districts as follows: — Stall. Temporary. Contract. Total. Auckland ... .. ... .17 4 1 22 Bawke's Bay ... ...... .6 2 1 9 Taranaki ... ... ... ... 6 1 ... 7 Wellington .. ... ... ... 10 ... 10 Nelson ... ... ... ... 7 1 1 9 Marlborough ... ... ... ... 1 2 ... 3 Westland ... ... ... ..3 2 5 Canterbury ... ... ... .1 1 2 Otago .. .. ... ... 3 ... ... :s Southland ... ... ... ... 2 1 :! Totalß ... ... ... ... 56 13 4 7:! Of the foregoing areas, the Auckland staff has about 139,000 acres of settlement surveys in hand, besides Native sm\e\s: and further work is anticipated in the opening-up of more lauds for selection, both Crown purchases from Natives and others, also further requirements by the Maori I.,md Boards. 11l the Napier district, in addition to the work in progress —viz., some 60,000 acres of settlement survey and a similar amount of Native survey—the principal new work will be the subdivision for closer settlement of a number of .-mall grazing-runs, the leases of which will shortly be expiring. The Taranaki staff lias in hand nearly 100,000 acres of settlement, besides 20.000 acres of Native surveys, ami will have, as new work, a large area of Crown purchases from the Natives in the northern portion of i he district. In the Wellington District about 86,000 acres of settlement and 26,000 acres of Native survey are in progress, and new settlement work will lie in the South Waimnrino Block, where it is estimated there will eventually lie nearly 100.,Mi1l acres available for settlement ;so that there is more than sufficient to keep the present local stall fully engaged alter the work at present in hand is completed. The staff of the Nelson District has 1i'.1.000 ac! es of settlement and 11.000 acres of Native surveys in hand, and the defining of the remaining 105 unsurveyed applications, comprising 01,000 acres, not included in the above must shortly be undertaken. There is also a possibility of a further 30,000 acres of future selections that will have to be dealt with. Marlborough, with 27,000 acres of lettlemeni survey in the earlj etages, about sixty miles of road to traverse, and other surveys of a miscellaneous character, will have ample to keep its stall full\ employed. In the Westland District tin- staff has 14,000 acres of settlement work in hand, besides a considerable mileage of road survey, and, in the ordinary course, there will be further applications for holdings under both band and Mining Acts. Canterbury just now has no large extent of settlement eurvey required; that of the Culverden Estate is about completed, which will free the surveyor to take up a number of small, scattered, our-

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